Polio eradication programme feels the pinch

The world financial crisis could upset the 22-year battle to eradicate polio just as victory is in sight.

Next week the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, based in Geneva, Switzerland, will announce that it is short of a third of the $2.6 billion it needs this year, due to financial cutbacks in the countries funding the programme.

It would not be the first time pledges have been late, but this time the problem runs deep, says Bruce Aylward, head of the GPEI. The donor countries contribute to polio eradication from funds not tied to regular aid budgets.

"Those are the first to go in a budget crisis", he says.

Unless the money is found before the end of September, the GPEI will have to cut back in countries that have eliminated polio but are at risk of re-infection without continued vaccination and surveillance. "It is a risk we should not have to take at this point," says Aylward.

The programme has made progress in much of the world, especially in the four "endemic" countries where the virus still constantly circulates. This is partly due to a redesigned vaccine that immunises against the two most common strains of the virus, rather than all three as it used to, focusing immunity where it is needed.

India has slashed cases by 88 per cent so far this year. In Nigeria cases have fallen 99 per cent as Muslim leaders, once against vaccination, now support it. Mass vaccination seems to have stopped a resurgence of the waterborne virus in flooded Pakistan. All are endemic countries.

Yet in Tajikistan, which eliminated polio in 1997, an outbreak in April paralysed more than 400 children. Last week it was announced by the GPEI announced that polio is re-established in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Both areas were highlighted as risks last year because of low vaccination rates, says Aylward. "But we didn't have enough money to go in and vaccinate" just on the chance polio might strike. Now such funds may be even more limited.

Without adequate funding, levels of polio could resurge across Africa and Asia within five years, says Aylward. "Either we eradicate polio… or we fail." He adds that the coming year is a "make-or-break time for polio eradication".

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